East-bound Maduro: Iran is our closest ally

A busy week for Venezuelan diplomacy, during which Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro landed in Turkey, Algeria and Iran, on a tour through which Maduro wanted to convey a message to the world that “Venezuela is grateful to its allies who supported it during its crisis and the American escalation once morest it.” According to Latin analysts, this tour is the first of its kind since the last trip by the Venezuelan president in 2015 and included the same countries, and at that time it aimed to “prepare for the difficult periods that Venezuela will go through in the future.” Maduro’s tour cannot be separated from the context of the Summit of the Americas that was being held at the same time, whose features showed the “weakness and fracture” of this event in which US President Joe Biden excluded the leaders of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua, which led to a boycott of the Mexican president, Andres Manuel López Obrador and Bolivian President Luis Arce are at the top, as are the presidents of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. In an article published on the “voice of america” ​​website in Spanish, the absence of several eminent personalities “was a setback since the beginning of the summit”. As for Maduro’s foreign tour and its purpose, the website quoted political researcher Anderson Sequera, director of the consulting firm Politiks, as saying that this tour “is closely related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the attempt to lift US sanctions on Venezuela.” The researcher believed that Maduro wanted to send a “strong message” centered on “who are his true allies, as well as a compensation mechanism… If the tribune of the Americas is closed, we will find other platforms of equal importance on the other side of the world.” And Anderson concluded that ” Maduro’s other goal is to improve his position at the negotiating table with the United States.

There is no doubt that the most important stop for Maduro was Iran, which is a close ally of Venezuela, with whom relations have strengthened in the past few years in light of the Western blockade on both countries. Tehran and Caracas translated the development of these ties into an agreement of “strategic cooperation for 20 years”, signed by Maduro and his Iranian counterpart, Ibrahim Raisi, the day before yesterday, as it was seen as a historical and strategic shift in the relations of the two countries.

Maduro’s tour carried important messages to Washington

During a joint press conference, Raisi said that signing the agreement “shows the determination of senior officials in the two countries to develop relations in various fields,” noting that Iran and Venezuela share the experience in confronting US economic sanctions. The Iranian president pointed out that “Venezuela has passed difficult years, but the determination of the people, officials and the president of the country was that they must resist the sanctions,” noting that “this is a good sign that proves to everyone that the resistance (to the sanctions) will force the enemy to retreat.” For his part, the Venezuelan president said that “we have important cooperation projects: energy, oil, gas, refineries, petrochemicals,” adding that the two countries are also working “on defense projects,” without details. After his meeting with Raisi, Maduro met the Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, who stressed that “resistance” is the best way to confront the complex American war. Khamenei said that “the successful experience of Iran and Venezuela proved that steadfastness and resistance are the only way to confront pressures,” noting that “the American view of Venezuela is changing with the global change taking place and the outlook for the future.” The Iranian guide welcomed the cooperation agreement, calling for making relations between the two countries “stronger.” On the way to strengthening cooperation, Maduro revealed the launch of direct flights as of July 18, with the aim of “promoting tourism and the union between the two countries,” while Raisi, in turn, highlighted the importance of these flights, considering that they might pave the way for strengthening “commercial and economic relations.” Iran has also delivered an Aframax tanker built by the Iranian company “Sadara”, the second of its kind, to Venezuela, as part of a contract with Tehran under which Venezuela will acquire four Iranian-made oil tankers. Maduro’s visit to Iran comes at the invitation of Raisi, weeks following a visit by Iranian Oil Minister, Javad Ogi, to Caracas, which has the largest proven reserves of crude oil in the world, where he met Maduro.
In Turkey, Maduro met his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as well as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who had arrived in the capital, Ankara, hours following the first. At a joint press conference between the two presidents, Erdogan said that “there is broad potential for cooperation between Venezuela and Turkey,” adding that “the two economies complement each other.” According to the Turkish president, trade between the two countries is likely to reach one billion dollars this year, with a target of 3 billion dollars annually as soon as possible, following it reached 850 million dollars in 2021. Likewise, Erdogan, who described Venezuela as « A friendly country,” his opposition to the “sanctions imposed on Caracas,” stressing that Turkey will stand by it from now on. For his part, Maduro called on Turkish investors to pump their investments in the fields of tourism, mining, industry, logistics, banking, oil, gold and coal in Venezuela, and assured them of the existence of all legal and political guarantees. Turkey had refused to engage in the US policy of pressure on Venezuela, despite the former being a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It also did not recognize Juan Guaido as “interim president” of the country, and condemned the coup attempt once morest Maduro in 2018.
After Turkey, Maduro visited Algeria, where he met his counterpart Abdelmadjid Tebboune, and decided to re-launch the High-level Joint Committee to implement a bilateral work agenda in the economic, trade and financial fields. Tebboune announced that they had agreed to open an air route, starting next July, between Algiers and Caracas, while Maduro stressed that the talks “represent the beginning of a new phase in relations between the two countries, towards union and common prosperity.”